President Obama has signed into law the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, a measure that is designed to streamline certification of new aircraft and simplify the modification of existing aircraft. The new law directs the FAA to change Part 23 by the end of 2015 to create "twice the safety at half the cost" in terms of certifying new aircraft and, just as important, adding modern avionics and other equipment to the current fleet. “Reforming the way FAA certifies aircraft can help more pilots fly more safely while lowering their costs—and that’s exactly the kind of support general aviation needs to thrive, said AOPA President Mark Baker.

Reworking the rules is still in process and there's work to do but the law to impose the deadline is a milestone. "The cost of certifying new safety equipment and new airframes has prevented many owners from upgrading their existing aircraft or from being able to even consider the purchase of a new aircraft,” said Rob Hackman, AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs. “The changes won’t happen right away, but this law emphasizes how important it is to keep reforms moving forward. We’ll keep working with Congress, the FAA, and the GA industry to make sure general aviation sees the benefits of reform.”

Though it is hard to trust the government on many things, maybe we should wait and see what this really is. If the process is streamlined, there could be considerable time and money saved and if a lot of the time consuming parts of certification are eliminated so that the real performance can quickly be accessed, it could result in better safety with less crap to do. At least it appears that something positive might be happening for GA.

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BobWest Nyack Aviation, L.L.C. New York, New York - East Hampton, New York & Warwick, New York 631.374.9652rkittine@aol.com WA2YDV

Someone Somewhere is Supposed to do Something Soon.... By December 31, 2015

Bipartisan Letter Urges OMB To Review FAA’s Rule For Small Airplane Certifications12-5-15Six members of Congress, led by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), are requesting that the Office of Management and Budget conduct an expeditious review of the FAA’s rule for small airplane certification regulations. The Small Airplane Revitalization Act, passed in 2013, requires the FAA to publish a final Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the end of 2015.

Federal regulators are far behind in the process. The rule is vital to the industry, Pompeo said.

At the blazing speed of bureaucracy. This topic is growing as the deadline nears, I can't wait to see what the proposals are.

Small Airplane Revitalization Act, a measure that is designed to streamline certification of new aircraft and simplify the modification of existing aircraft. The new law directs the FAA to change Part 23 by the end of 2015 to create "twice the safety at half the cost" in terms of certifying new aircraft and, just as important, adding modern avionics and other equipment to the current fleet. “Reforming the way FAA certifies aircraft can help more pilots fly more safely while lowering their costs—and that’s exactly the kind of support general aviation needs to thrive, said AOPA President Mark Baker.

President Obama has signed into law the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, a measure that is designed to streamline certification of new aircraft and simplify the modification of existing aircraft. The new law directs the FAA to change Part 23 by the end of 2015 to create "twice the safety at half the cost"

I think I see where the Obama Regime went wrong. They should have directed the FAA to create "ten times the safety at one tenth the cost". After all, when you're as practiced at the art of telling lies and making promises you have no intention of keeping, why stop with just doubling the safety and cutting the cost in half.

We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas.

Obama, February 12, 2013

Maybe he just likes that "double" stuff because any higher level of math would be incomprehensible by his base of supporters.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today proposed a rule that overhauls the airworthiness standards for small general aviation airplanes. The FAA’s proposal, which is based on industry recommendations, would reduce the time it takes to get safety enhancing technologies for small airplanes into the marketplace while also reducing cost.

“This proposal would improve safety, reduce costs, and leverage innovation to ensure the highest level of safety is designed and built into small airplanes,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “General aviation is vital to the U.S. economy, and this proposal would benefit manufacturers, pilots, and the general aviation community as a whole.”

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking restructures the existing certification standards and replaces the current prescriptive design requirements in Part 23 with performance-based standards that maintain the same level of safety. It would add new certification standards to address general aviation loss of control accidents and in-flight icing conditions. The proposal establishes performance- and risk-based divisions for airplanes with a maximum seating capacity of 19 passengers or less and a maximum takeoff weight of 19,000 pounds or less.

“This proposal would streamline how we approve new technologies for small piston-powered airplanes all the way to complex high-performance executive jets,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “The FAA’s collaboration with industry and international partners reflects a performance-based, flexible approach which would accommodate today’s rapidly changing aviation industry and technological advances now and in the future.”

The proposal responds to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013, which directed the FAA to streamline the approval of safety advancements for small general aviation aircraft. It also addresses recommendations from the FAA’s 2013 Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.

The FAA estimates that the overall economic impact would be cost beneficial. This proposal would affect airplane manufacturers, engine manufacturers, and operators of affected equipment. A video highlights the benefits of the proposed rule.

The comment period is 60 days from publication in the Federal Register.